The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/95644
Wπ chronicle Joel Brattin and students at St. Alfege, where the protagonists of Dickens's last complete novel, Our Mutual Friend, were finally wed. Students Translate Biography of a Chinese Resistance Fighter A experienced A Tale of Two Passions THIS SUMMER, a group of WPI students crossed the Atlantic to walk in the footsteps of three great artists—William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Jimi Hendrix. What better guide for the seven-week "experience" than Professor Joel Brattin, whose aca- demic research is divided between 19th century novelist Dickens, and 1960s guitarist Hendrix. The course, "Dickens, Shakespeare, Hendrix, and London," featured visits to sites closely associated with the three. Students attended a performance of Henry V at Shakespeare's Globe (rebuilt in the 1990s, close to the original site). They visited Hendrix's London flat and the studios where he recorded key works, including his album Are You Experienced? They also toured Mar- shalsea Prison, where Dickens's father was imprisoned for debt—an event that strongly flavored the author's life and work. Brattin's scholarly passions were ignited when he was growing up in Michigan. He still recalls the moment in 1967 when one of his sisters popped the newly released Are You Experienced? on the record player, and the childhood friend who urged him to read Great Expectations. "I learned to love Shakespeare in London, in my undergraduate days," he says. Initially, Dickens edged out the guitarist for Brattin's scholarly attention. But while working on his PhD dissertation on Dickens, he reviewed a Hen- drix biography—since then, he's written more than 250 Hendrix-related articles and reviews and more than 60 on Dickens. He has also served as trustee, secretary/treas- urer, vice president, and president of The Dickens Society. At WPI he is credited with bringing the Robert D. Fellman Dickens Collection to Gor- don Library, and his presentation "A Visual Exploration of the Best of Hendrix" has delighted scholars and fans alike. Brattin is perhaps the world's only scholar equally at home interpreting the authorial revisions in a Dickens manuscript and analyzing the guitar legend's genius on the fretboard. LITTLE BIT OF Chinese history is now available LQ (QJOLVK WKURXJK WKH HIIRUWV RI *RUGRQ /LEUDU\ and WPI students. Sarcey Chen '24 was an electrical engineering major from China. After graduating from WPI, he returned to his homeland and founded the North Pole Appliance Company. His dream was to help the Chinese use new technology to transport fresh food long distances in refrigerated rail cars. Cho- sen by his classmates as an exemplary leader, Chen ZDV SURƂOHG LQ D WPI Journal article called "The Measure of a Man." Chen took part in the resistance to Japan's occupa- tion of Shanghai in the late 1930s. He raised money for the Chinese forces and helped plan construc- tion of routes for the army. In 1940 WPI received word that he had been imprisoned and executed. Information was restricted during the war years, but a 1946 letter from his nephew, Haw King Chen, read, "I suppose you have heard of the tragic death of my uncle, Sarcey Chen; he died as a martyr to the cause of active resistance to Japanese aggression. He was shot by the trai- tor Wang Ching-wei, chairman of the puppet government sponsored by the Japanese invaders." Last spring, students, staff, and fac- ulty gathered to celebrate the com- pletion of a bilingual version of the biography, originally written in Chi- nese by Yitai Lu and Qian Wan. WPI students Xiaowen Zhen '12, Xiaolin Zhen '12, and Chao Liao '12 spent several years on the translation. Speakers at the reception included WPI archivist Margaret Anderson, who spearheaded the project, and Nienling Leung, whose father was a classmate and friend of Chen's at Tsinghua University. A lim- ited print run, produced by WPI's bindery, is avail- able in Gordon Library, and an electronic version is planned for the digital collection. 18 Fall 2012